Necromancy
Necromancy is the application of salt on corpses and carcasses in order to animate or resurrect them. A hallmark of necromancy is the obscene cost of salt for even basic animation of a corpse, leading practitioners to find high-tier saltwells in order to fuel their magical practices. This usually means using other living creatures, particularly people, as living harvesters, causing necromancy to be vilified by almost every civilized culture in the world. The animation of a corpse is both extremely demanding in both effort and salt. A corpse requires a steady amount of salt to stay animated and move, in lieu of traditional energy supplies. The demand for salt in a necromantic catalyst (a body) is high as there are two separate pools that consume salt; the body, and the mind. The body requires salt in order to remain animated, using it as a substitute for caloric energy. The mind requires salt as a means to control the body, substituting the natural electric and chemical impulses with salt. The more intricate and complex an animated mind is set to be, the more demanding it is of salt. Even an incredibly powerful sorcerer will have to find alternatives than themselves in order to animate a body for any substantial amount of time. There are many factors that contribute to the taboo nature of necromancy in society. # Necromancy, by nature, is very demanding and requires the constant harvesting of large amounts of salt. # Most necromancers rely on saltic projection to salter their catalysts, corrupting their psyches with madness. # Nobody likes to see their deceased loved ones turned into an animated husk serving their master... unless they're the necromancer, that is. Catalysts Necromancy's catalysts are the deceased remains of something that was once alive, whether it be a corpse, carcass, skeleton etc. A necromantic catalyst requires two components in order to function: a working body, and a mind to direct the body. If regularly supplied with salt, a corpse can be reanimated and directed to obey their master. Skeletons are cheap relative to a corpse's demand of salt, and can be animated to perform basic labor at little cost, especially if one harvests saltpools around them (which usually boils down to bones and bodies around you). A body cannot be animated without a mind to salter, and minds have the unfortunate tendency to rot away after a while. Salt can preserve the brain though which is pretty neat. Salt Harvesting Necromancy, being one of the most demanding schools of sorcery, requires a very large and regular intake of salt in order to be maintained. A necromancer, even a very powerful one, requires a reliable saltic income in order to maintain their practices. This means that a necromancer requires additional powerful saltwells to fuel their salteration. Luckily, there is an abundant supply of these powerful saltwells everywhere - people! People, theoretically, are an ideal saltwell for a necromancer as their wells are powerful relative to most beasts and plants, have very deep saltpools and are abundant in civilized locations. In practice, however, they're difficult to control, require regular sustenance and have their own will which can conflict with the necromancer's agenda. Saltic corruption As a necromancers projects himself into more and more catalysts, their psyche becomes corrupted by the reality of their catalysts' existence. Their bodies slowly become corpse-like, dying and preserving itself as the mind lives on, descending into madness as their very being becomes dead. Necromancers become visible pale and sickly, perhaps even rank, but the necromancer stays otherwise healthy and physically capable. Their behavior becomes noticeably different as well, becoming morbid and unnervingly passive. A necromancer who is officially too far gone will stick out like a dead thumb in a crown of right red, very much alive thumbs. The necromancer's decline into corruption exponentially continues until the necromancer is unable to attract salt of their own and has essentially become a living corpse. Their being will erode until nothing left is a mind empty of anything other than a will driven by the desire to raise. After years have passed their kind will rekindle, awakening from an empty dream with no identity or knowledge of the world. Necromancers who are in any of the necromatic societies know this time comes, and prepare for it. Practitioners Necromancy, being taboo, leaves its serious practitioners with the ultimatum of either fleeing society or being culled for everyone's betterment. The fate of a necromancer is almost wholly dependent on the options of where a necromancer can go once they are pushed out of society. Lone necromancers are usually unfortunate souls who have turned to necromancy for whatever reason and found themselves pariahs with nowhere and no one to turn to. They're often beings of desperation, hiding in catacombs and crypts where bodies are plentiful and they are free from the suspicious eyes of those around them. Over time, perhaps even years, these suckas will rot away, descending endlessly into madness with no living soul around them to keep company. They hide under the surface of civilization, festering in a tomb of death as they descend further into madness, untethered and alone. If they don't meet their end in due time, they inevitably draw enough attention to themselves to be marked for death by local authority or the populace. This is the public image of necromancers, as they are most common and who pose the most evident threat to society. Some necromancers, either by chance, luck or circumstance, will band together in order to survive. These cells' survivability is much higher than lone, hopeless necromancers. Oftentimes these cells will find their way to the outskirts of society or anywhere they can inconspicuously practice necromancy without the pressing concern of being discovered. These cells have the potential to persist for a long time, becoming more and more adept at necromancy as they persist. Old necromantic cells possess ancient knowledge of transmutation, the art of saltering living creatures, and use it to transform catalysts and turn victims into convenient wells to cultivate more salt.